Counterpoint: Towards an Urban Dialectic Part 2 Project 2020 Patrick DunneAndrew LaneMatthew Thompson University of Liverpool | UK Without radical reassessment, the continued dominance of the city will surely lead to the death of the town, where individuals are left increasingly isolated - estranged from the historic core, leaving heritage to descend into ruin. Historic towns must be re-equipped to fight the mass exodus from the countryside and offer a counterpoint to the city. Through an orchestrated media campaign, this thesis proposes an educational institution with a hands-on learning programme, located within the town of Albarracín in central Spain, thereby cultivating the town’s inherent uniqueness and offering individuals a tangible sense of place and community. Through typological and urban morphological analysis, the scheme proposes a novel methodology for the reassessment of heritage, where monuments are utilised as propelling artefacts that encourage development, rather than stagnant objects that resist change. The emergent rules of engagement ensure that innovation is given room, while the key characteristics of the site are not insensitively altered. Albarracín serves as a model of resistance. The methodology outlined can be applied across rural Spain and the wider continent in order to address the issue of rural depopulation, establishing the town as a counterpoint to the city in a move towards a renewed urban dialectic. Tutor(s)Dr Soumyen Bandyopadhyay